COLORADO, USA — Driving through Colorado’s mountains is hard enough in a car. Throw in a massive semi-truck and that crash could be deadly. That’s why the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) is now sending automatic messages to truck drivers reminding them to slow down or cool their brakes when they pass through certain parts of the state.
From Golden to Morrison to Conifer and all those times in the high country, over and over again, it's clear how dangerous it can be for trucks to drive through Colorado.
"We definitely have some unique challenges for truck drivers in Colorado," Captain John Hahn with CSP said. "We know that there’s a challenge there with drivers that are just not familiar with our mountains."
Hahn is the commander of the Motor Carrier Safety Section of CSP. They are the first in the nation to install virtual geofences on roads around Colorado that send alerts to drivers in their cabs when they pass through.
"We’re able to geofence," Hahn said. "We’re able to pick the locations where we’d like that messaging to ping the truck. We can choose any location along our highway system so that when that truck drives through that geofence, through that electronic gate, that message will pop up in front of them."
Messages like "slow down," "shift gears" or "sharp curves ahead" are automatically sent directly to drivers and appear on their dashboards. They’re using the technology at the Eisenhower Tunnel and so far, it’s working. CSP has already sent more than 16,000 messages to truckers passing through the state.
"We’ve seen about a 4.3 mph reduction in speed for those trucks that are going westbound that hit that geofence and get that message," Hahn said.
The messages pop up in the electronic driver logs that all trucks have, though people have to subscribe to them. Of course, that leaves open the possibility that small trucking companies that often cause some of the biggest crashes will not subscribe to the alerts.
CSP is using crash data from around Colorado to determine where messages need to be automatically sent to drivers in their cabs and what they should say.
"Yeah, it could help tremendously," Scott Maurer, co-owner of CDL303, said. "The only trucking school in Colorado that has classes specializing in mountain driving.
"You have a lot on your plate as far as being in the mountains," Maurer said. "In my perspective, I think you need to up your game 25% by being in the mountains."
While technology can help, training is even more important. CSP said 65% of all trucks that end up in a runaway truck ramp in the mountains are driven by drivers with less than five years of mountain driving experience.
Now the warnings are sent automatically straight to the front seat of the truck.
"We’re trying to reach those drivers that don’t get an opportunity to drive in Colorado’s mountains," Hahn said. "It really is a matter of us trying to find everything that we can do to try and keep people safe."